The Bloody Battle of Bayamon - The Fight

The Fight

As the challenger, Arguello entered the ring first. Escalera, as was typical of him, made his entrance to the sounds of salsa music and took a snake wrapped around his neck to the ring.

Arguello started off quickly, dropping Escalera in round two. The champion got up and started answering Arguello's onslaughts with combinations of his own. Arguello felt that he needed to be extra aggressive, fearing that if the fight was a close one, Escalera would be given a points verdict should it go the fifteen round distance because Escalera was fighting in his home country. Unknown to him, he was actually building a points lead on the three judges' scorecards.

Escalera, meanwhile, felt that this was a fight he could win. He had been in difficult fights before, and he had prevailed on those. While Arguello's punches were taking a toll on Escalera's skin, he kept pressing and connecting strong punches on Arguello's body. By the eighth round, however, Escalera had suffered various injuries, such as a broken nose, ear, and teeth, a closed eye and a cut on his tongue.

By round ten, the crowd seemed to feel that Escalera's chances of winning the bout were slipping away. Escalera rebounded, however, and rocked Arguello during the following three rounds, being on the verge of knocking the Nicaraguan out in the tweltfh round. Escalera was apparently reinvigorated with the crowd cheering him on again.

In round thirteen, Arguello made one final effort, pounding Escalera with a variety of punches. Escalera began to bleed profusely once again from his different injuries, and referee Arthur Mercante stopped the fight, with Arguello winning the WBC world Jr. Lightweight title by a thirteenth round knockout.